Salt Routes, Where Is Gritted Options

[user23]

This might be of interest to everyone who posted in the recent snow related threads.

Salt Routes

[GrumblingAgain]

Interesting to see that the access road into Vodafone is a primary gritting route, yet other business parks in the area aren't on any gritting route. Favouritism?

[Hugh Saskin]

Interesting to see that the access road into Vodafone is a primary gritting route, yet other business parks in the area aren't on any gritting route. Favouritism?

Or being a bus route?

[Darren]

Interesting to see that the access road into Vodafone is a primary gritting route, yet other business parks in the area aren't on any gritting route. Favouritism?

Because it's a bus route?

[JeffG]

Also interesting to see that Buckingham Road/Fifth Road are shown as salt routes, when they are covered with compacted snow/ice.

[Biker1]

My local road is shown as a route (in pink which I presume is a lower priority) and is hasn't been touched at all during this cold spell!

[Iommi]

My local road is shown as a route (in pink which I presume is a lower priority) and is hasn't been touched at all during this cold spell!

Yes, I can now see where they were meant to have salted but clearly didn't, or if they did, was a pathetically little amount, that it was barely worthwhile.

[Andy]

Record of Salting


Date Route Start Time

Tuesday 15 December Primaries 19:30
Thursday 17 December Primaries 02:00
Thursday 17 December Primaries 14:00
Thursday 17 December Secondaries 18:00
Friday 18 December Primaries 03:30
Friday 18 December Secondaries 09:30
Friday 18 December Town Centre Footways/Carparks 10:00 Approx
Friday 18 December Primaries 13:00
Saturday 19 December Primaries 23:50
Sunday 20 December Secondaries 02:45
Sunday 20 December Secondaries 15:30
Sunday 20 December Primaries 17:30
Monday 21 December Surface Carparks 08:30
Monday 21 December Town Centre Footways/Carparks 11:00
Monday 21 December Primaries 14:00
Monday 21 December Secondaries 17:00
Monday 21 December Primaries (Routes 1-5, 7 and 8) 21:00
Monday 21 December Primaries (Routes 6 and 9) 23:00
Tuesday 22 December Secondaries 09:45
Tuesday 22 December Salt Bin Replenishment (East to West) 10:00
Tuesday 22 December Town Centre Road/Footways 11:00 Approx
Tuesday 22 December Primaries 15:30
Tuesday 22 December Secondaries 18:30
Wednesday 23 December Primaries 08:30
Wednesday 23 December Salt Bin Replenishment conitnuing on a cyclic basis. on-going
Wednesday 23 December Town Centre Footways Subways and Carparks 09:30
Wednesday 23 December Secondaries 12:30
Wednesday 23 December A339 southbound Vodaphone following RTA 14:30

[Strafin]

Where does the record of salting come from? Because if it's from the council I will indeed take the information "with a pinch of salt"

[spartacus]

FOR EVERYONE WHO COMPLAINS THAT "THEY NEVER TOUCH MY ROAD AND IT'S SHOWN IN PINK ON THE MAP!!" (Biker1)

Problems with 'salting' or gritting.

1. Lay it too soon, it gets covered with snow and doesn't react properly

2. Lay it when it's too cold and even if it DOES react with the ice/snow, there's a finite temperature where EVEN salt water freezes so the salting become ineffective and turns to 'black ice'..

3. Lay it when there's a bit of surface water, it gets washed straight down the nearest drain and into the nearest watercourse... (Great for the local eco-system and does nothing for clearing the road)

4. Lay it when it's too dry, the wind turbulence of passing traffic will just blow it to the edge of carriageway where it's ineffective and wasteful.

4. Lay it when there's not enough traffic to 'crush' the salt and cause the reaction with ice, it'll just lay there.

5. Lay it between 11pm and 6am when the routes are clear enough to allow efficient laying to take place in readiness for the following morning's traffic? Well "nobody sees it" because everybody's tucked up in bed while the gritter lorry drivers are working their little butts off!! Reason Number One for everyone to say "I never see a bleedin' gritter truck down this road". It take 10 seconds to drive past your front door. Unless you happen to be stood outside having a fag you ain't going to necessarily see it. What do you think the lorry driver should do? Honk thier horn every 2 seconds?! Have a merry tune twinkling away like an ice cream van?

Problem 6 with salting: Lazy fekers who never clean their cars from one year to the next will find that the salt has been chewing on their chassis throughout the summer and find the next time they slam their anchors on in the snow, their foot goes through the floorpan...

[spartacus]

Oh and BTW... Notice on the 'Salting Routes' plan that Faraday Road isn't included for salting. At the far end is where WBC Highways are located, so no real favouritism going on and looking after their own as far as that's concerned. And if you look at the salting plan map to it's maximum scale, you may just appreciate how many roads the gritters are trying to cover.

A few hundred miles of road there.... They can't do EVERY little residential road y'know

[Iommi]

Reading between the lines it would suggest that salting/gritting is pointless.

In my view the salting/gritting in some primary areas was not done well enough. In previous years gritting was evident, this period it wasn't. Particularly on hills.

Road surface temperatures, can be up to 5 -7 degrees lower than air temperature. It has been very cold for many days now; before the snow came.

[spartacus]

About time people reverted to common practise from a few decades ago and started helping themselves and their community a little bit more. Too many reports received of people taking buckets up to their nearest Salt Bins and loading up buckets just to spread on the front drives.....!! That's NOT what the salt bins are for!! You MEANT to spread it on the adjacent slope to the bin!!

[Iommi]

About time people reverted to common practise from a few decades ago and started helping themselves and their community a little bit more. Too many reports received of people taking buckets up to their nearest Salt Bins and loading up buckets just to spread on the front drives.....!! That's NOT what the salt bins are for!! You MEANT to spread it on the adjacent slope to the bin!!

Manually trying to do this on, say, Pyle (spelling?) Hill could be hazardous for the spreaderer.

[spartacus]

You're being ridiculous...
Pyle Hill is a Primary Route according to the map and so is a salting route. Salt bins are located in minor residential roads, generally with steep slopes, which can then be treated by local residents as the situation dictates. When the salt/grit runs out, you phone the Council and they refill it.

Some people expect the Council to do everything INCLUDING wiping their ar$es! If you want them to do THAT I would expect to see a BIG raise in the Council Tax next year.......

[Iommi]

You're being ridiculous...
Pyle Hill is a Primary Route according to the map and so is a salting route. Salt bins are located in minor residential roads, generally with steep slopes, which can then be treated by local residents as the situation dictates. When the salt/grit runs out, you phone the Council and they refill it.

Some people expect the Council to do everything INCLUDING wiping their ar$es! If you want them to do THAT I would expect to see a BIG raise in the Council Tax next year.......

Now who's being ridiculous? I don't expect the Council to wipe my ahs.

If Pyle Hill is a primary route, it wasn't evident this week! I saw abandoned cars there, not withstanding a pinch spot with the speed cameras and pedestrian crossing. In any case I used the road as an example, but let's say the Nightingales crescent then, if you're going to be pedantic and rude!

Guess what I saw earlier on...yes a gritter in Thatcham.

[Jayjay]

Or being a bus route?

Number 11 bus route that serves the hospital has not been gritted. Yesterday morning only two bus routes (Kintbury and Lamboune) were running, number 1 ran later in the day. All Vodafone bus routes ran from first thing.

[Hugh Saskin]

Number 11 bus route that serves the hospital has not been gritted. Yesterday morning only two bus routes (Kintbury and Lamboune) were running, number 1 ran later in the day. All Vodafone bus routes ran from first thing.

Also The Link to Kingsclere and B'stoke, Jayjay, although Stagecoach didn't work their bit until later in the day

[Strafin]

What's wrong with expecting the council to do a lot more? Over the last few years services have been cut and cut and cut and the taxes have gone up and up and up. This would never be accepted from a private company so why is it allowed to happen with WBC? If they stopped collecting the rubbish would the same people accept it and say we should all be doing our own?

[user23]

What's wrong with expecting the council to do a lot more? Over the last few years services have been cut and cut and cut and the taxes have gone up and up and up. This would never be accepted from a private company so why is it allowed to happen with WBC? If they stopped collecting the rubbish would the same people accept it and say we should all be doing our own?

We have ageing population in this country that's costing more and more to look after.

Running these services like a private company would result in sending some in need out on the streets or not delivering them meals or the care they needs when the cash ran out. I don't think I need to say what the ultimate result of this could be, especially at times like these.